Hey guys,

I've been having an occasional problem starting for the past 6 months.

When I go to start (mostly happens on short start) will crank but not turn over. Will start with gas but then dies right away. a few of these will make it run.

Battery and fuel tested good, had 2 shops tell me nothing is wrong.

This morning I didn't even get a crank, dim lights, clock reset etc. Battery dead? A couple minutes later I tried and it started right up. gauge reads 14v.

Went to autozone today for a free check, said my battery needed to be replaced. When I asked about the alternator I then turned my xj on and he said it was reading only 12.5v. should be 13.5

Is this related to my earlier problem? Could the alternator be causing the battery to test bad? It is less than 3 years old and was tested as good about 4 months ago.

Thanks

p.s. talked to a service adviser and he thought it might be a bad cell in the battery that only pops up once in a while. 12.5v is still enough to charge the battery

 

No, the alt should not be the problem.

I would guess bad grounds or connections.

 

^x2

 

I would say marginal battery still. Mine would sometimes start the xj and it would run fine, but if I let off the gas the rpm would drop and I would either stall or have to give it gas to keep it going. I had it tested after a long trip and it passed the load test, but then after driving only 3 miles 2 pedaling it, it tested below 50% charge.

It may just have a problem holding a charge, so after 1 start and not a lot of travel, it may not maintain charge. Try swapping another battery in for a few minutes and see if the problem persists.